I’ve been trying to tidy up a bit here at home, and have thus been looking at some of the gear I’ve got with slightly fresh eyes. For those who know me, don’t get too excited, it’s all a bit of a slow process, and I doubt anyone (sadly including myself) will see any real difference for a while yet! Anyway, I have been thinking about the things we surround ourselves with, and particularly those humble everyday bits and pieces that fulfil a function but which we don’t take a lot of notice of. I have a few things that have accompanied me through most of my life. Of course they aren’t important in themselves, but there they are anyway, holding my life within them in a way, and linked to memories of house moves and school days and reading and bedtimes and hair washes and on it goes.

Here are the stories:

The brush was a Christmas present in 1971 – a such simple times! – I went to boarding school the following year and it went with me and has been used daily ever since.

The satin floral cloth is a ‘kimono’ mum made for me to wear in the school concert when I was in grade 2, in 1966. We did a play based on the The Mikado of all things, and the girls all had to wear these kimonos that our mothers made for us. I was convinced (and still am) that mine was the best. I think mum had the fabric in her sewing cupboard for some time beforehand – it has a ’50’s feel to it.

The blue towel, very threadbare now, was also a boarding school item. We had to take three towels with us, and I used them week by week all through those years, and then this blue one has been my hair-drying towel for decades since, three times a week. It is getting very thin now, but it’s amazing how long a towel will actually last. I gave away the other two years ago.

The blue quilt with the cats on it was a present for my fifth birthday in 1964. I have used it regularly through most of the years since and it too is very worn. When I first got it I thought it was really special because one of the cats in each of the baskets was so like my own cat Smokey. Such sweet and simple times.

The big book is a dictionary that I bought (with money I saved over quite a time), again in 1971. I think you got them through The Advertiser, a special offer, for something like $6.95! It’s the only proper dictionary I’ve ever had, and I like it a lot. It got weed on once by a cat I had, so some of the pages are a bit stained and not quite flat, and there are lots of pressed flower petals and leaves in various of the pages reminding me of special people and times.

I’ve lots of other things that have come to me through other people (ie more than one owner) which I may do a post on in the future, but in the meantime, here’s to the humble everyday things that come with us through life, useful, unassuming, part of the journey.